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Dear Clonie,
I’ve lately been doing very well in tournaments
with around 2000 competitors, finishing consistently
in the top five percent. I have also been doing well
in ten-person tournaments, winning about 30 percent
of the time.
The tournaments I’ve been winning are the
type in which the blinds are increased slowly. However,
whenever I try my hand at tournaments with rapidly increasing
blind structures, I have not been doing well at all,
winning maybe 15-20% of the time in a ten person tourney
and finishing in the middle of the pack in the bigger
tourneys.
I am a tight-aggressive player and I am wondering
what I can do to increase my win percentage on these
kinds of games? I have tried playing more aggressive
in some games and loose in others, but nothing seems
to work. Does this rapidly increasing blind structure
favor a certain type of player?
Thank you,
Michael Esposito
Dear Michael,
With your success playing in tournaments you already
know that in order to win a normal tournament you want
to avoid coin flip situations, such as a pair versus
overcards or overcards versus a pair. These situations
require you to get lucky to win, and good players always
want to avoid that as much as possible.
In tournaments with rapidly increasing blinds, such
as speed tournaments, playing and winning coin flips
becomes necessary. In these online tournaments, the
blinds can double every three to five minutes. In the
early stages of such tournaments, you should look for
coin flip situations and try to play them for all of
your chips. The idea is to get lucky early in the tournament
and double or triple up. Once you do that, you can push
hard and be aggressive with the short stacks, avoiding
the other big stacks, much as you would in a regular
tournament. Playing in these tournaments requires you
to maintain focused aggression the entire time. If you
relax and start playing tight, the blinds will quickly
catch up to you, limiting your options. Because there
is luck involved in winning coin flips, you must get
lucky to win a speed tournament. Try to find those lucky
situations early, though, while your chip stack is large
in comparison to the blinds. This way if you do get
unlucky, you will not have wasted much time and you
can move on to the next tournament.
-Clonie
Dear Clonie,
I have been playing No-limit Hold’em for
about two years now and I generally do well. However,
I have one big hole in my game. I usually start out
playing well and very focused, but after a while seem
to lose my focus and call a big bet or all in without
properly evaluating the situation. I usually lose at
this point. I end up calling river bets with good hands,
without even considering the possibility that I might
have been sucked out. Is there any advice you can give
on how I can work on this flaw in my game?
Sincerely,
HLDMLVR
Dear HLDMLVR,
You are not alone in your attempt to maintain focus
throughout a tournament! This is something that nearly
all poker players struggle with. I will give you a couple
of suggestions to help you with your struggles.
For starters, before you make any decision that requires
pushing a lot of chips into the pot, force yourself
to stop and think for a second. When I am faced with
calling a big bet I always stop for a second and remind
myself that I am playing the tournament to win. Then
I ask myself if making this call is necessary for me
to win the tournament. This allows me to make sure that
I am not making impulsive decisions without thinking
them through. When my opponent makes a large river bet,
I always try to figure out what cards they could be
playing and whether or not I have been outdrawn. Don’t
second guess yourself, but make sure that whatever decision
you make is at least well thought out, even if you are
wrong.
You also need to minimize distractions while you are
playing. If you are playing online, make sure you don’t
have children running around or a spouse asking you
questions. If you are playing in a live tournament,
take care of your obligations before the tournament
starts and leave your cell phone behind. I use an MP3
player to stop people from talking to me so I can focus,
and you could even do that while you are playing online.
Find a way to keep your focus, whatever works best
for you. Some people like to exercise or stretch during
breaks and if you can do this I highly recommend it.
It keeps the blood flowing and will help your patience
during play.
Fix this flaw in your game and I will look forward
to seeing your screen name at the final table.
-Clonie
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